t _palu_ brought to the surface.
Sometimes a hungry shark will seize the outrigger in his jaws, or get
foul of it, and upset the canoe, and a capsize under such circumstances
is a serious matter indeed. For this reason the canoes are never far
apart from each other; if one should be attacked or disabled by a shark
the others at once render assistance, and the shark is usually thrust
through with a lance if he is too big to be captured and killed. All
haste is then made to get away from the spot, leaving the disturber of
the proceedings to be devoured by his companions, whom the scent of
blood soon brings upon the scene.

With ordinary luck we would get our first _palu_ within an hour of
lowering our lines. At such a great depth as eighty or ninety fathoms a
bite would scarcely be felt by one of my companions on his thick, heavy,
and clumsy line; but on mine it was very different, and there was hardly
an occasion on which I did not secure the first fish. Like most
bottom-haunting fish in very deep water the _palu_ makes but a brief
fight. If he can succeed in "getting his head," he will at once rush
into the coral forest amid which he lives, and endeavour to save himself
by jamming his body into a cleft or chasm of rock, and let the hook be
torn from his jaws, which are soft, boneless, and glutinous. Once,
however, he is dragged clear of the coral he seems to lose all heart;
and, although he makes an occasional spurt, he grows weaker and weaker
as he is dragged toward the surface, and when lifted into the canoe is
apparently lifeless, his large eyes literally standing out of his head,
and his stomach distended like a balloon. So enormous is the distention
of the bladder that sometimes it will protrude from the mouth, and then
burst with a noise like a pistol-shot! Perhaps some of my readers will
smile at this, but they could see the same thing occur with other
deep-sea fish besides the _palu_. In the Caroline and Marshall Islands
there is a species of grey groper which is caught in a depth ranging
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty fathoms; these fish, which
range up to two hundred pounds, actually burst their stomachs when
brought to the surface; for the air in the cavities of the body expands
on the removal of the great pressure which at such depths keeps it
compressed.

Now as to the appearance of the _palu_. When first caught, and seen by
the light of a lantern or torch, it is a dark, silvery grey in colour,